KARL Robinson says a key area for Oxford United in the January transfer window will be in the forward line.

United have been plagued by injuries this season, particularly in attack.

Kyle Joseph has been out of action since early November, while Sam Baldock has yet to play for the U’s this campaign.

Swansea City loanee Joseph is expected to be fit for the Sky Bet League One clash away at Fleetwood Town on January 14, having been unavailable since suffering an ankle injury after a tackle during the 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury Town on November 9.

Meanwhile, Marcus Browne is six weeks away from a return due to a hamstring complaint.

Speaking after the 1-0 defeat at home to Exeter City on New Year’s Day, United head coach Robinson highlighted his forward line as an area to add to this month.

Without Joseph and Baldock to call upon, Robinson has been left with Matty Taylor and teenage striker Gatlin O’Donkor as his only options up front.

“We know we’ve got a transfer window and obviously we’ve got two offensive players out, and Browney out, and we’ve got to make sure we bring in reinforcements at the top end of the pitch,” said Robinson.

“Gats is still very young, I know he scored the goal the other day but he’s still young.

“We know he’s one for the future, him and Tyler [Goodrham].

“We know there’s a lot more to come from the young players.

“I don’t want to make sure that the weight of the world is put on them young players at a young age, we’ve got to make sure we’re calm with their development.

“We’ve got to make sure we bring in some sort of striker to support Matty.

“We’ve had basically one striker fit all season. With the injuries to Kyle and Sam, we need to be aggressive in that area in the window.

“You’re always going to get injuries in the course of the season and you have to accept them.”

READ MORE: Our player ratings for Oxford United’s New Year’s Day defeat to Exeter City

The Fleetwood clash has been earmarked by Robinson as the preferable time to get reinforcements in by.

He said: “The Fleetwood game is the ideal scenario, we’ve got a lot of work to do in the meantime.

“In an ideal world, you’d want them in now but we don’t live in an ideal world.

“We’ve got a number of players that we’d like to bring in, we’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for the right one if we have to wait.

“Part of our process is making sure we put a timeline on something, and once we get to that timeline, we move on to the next one very quickly.

“If he becomes available late on and you’ve already moved on and done something, you have to accept that.

“We’ve worked hard over the last six weeks to try and really pinpoint what we want and who we want to bring in.”